Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus

[themadhippy]

Why is that funny, or are you just trolling? I can make alcohol from ingredients I already have in my kitchen cupboard.

And how did you find out how to make alcohol?someone told you,or you read it somewhere, you've researched the theory.You decide to grow weed,you research ,once youve the seeds  it can be as simple as chuck em in the ground and wait,much easier than brewing even the most basic rotgut hooch.

[nctnico]

Cannabis is more more tricky to produce

Why is that funny, or are you just trolling? I can make alcohol from ingredients I already have in my kitchen cupboard. If I want to grow cannabis I have to get hold of the seeds first and I wouldn't know where to start.

Google...  Or in my case the girl in front of me when I was in school over 30 years ago 

[james_s]

Apparently taxes for 2019 were 25.74 billion so it's even smaller a percentage(https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/Docs/Reports/2019/Tax_Statistics_2019/Tax_Statistics_2019.pdf). So 1.5% of total tax revenue... No I don't think that's a windfall. It's fine to disagree. I'm not for or against marijuana(unless it's in my house). That goes for cigarettes and tobacco too. Alcohol was just barely beat out by marijuana and cigarettes and tobacco beat out both. All 3 together only made up 4.6% of tax revenue.

1.5% of the *total* tax revenue collected by the state from *everything* from just *one* niche industry? That's big! It's almost as much as is collected on alcohol and that's available in every grocery store, corner shop, bar, most restaurants, etc.

I mean personally I could take it or leave it, but I think it's ridiculous to classify it the same as hard drugs. Pot can absolutely ruin a person's life, ironically from the legal consequences of being caught with a bit of the stuff in some parts of the country. Sure overuse can lead to a person being a lazy burnout stoner and I've known a few of those however I've known a LOT more hardcore alcoholics, including a few who literally drank themselves to death. 

[VK3DRB]

Getting back on track (and off the illegal drugs crap), it is possible working from home will become the norm.

Companies in Australia are now realising it is much cheaper for employees to work from home. The energy bills are all paid for by the employee and over here it is an attractive tax deduction of 80 cents per hour worked from home. Even so, most electronics professionals lack decent test equipment of their own, so they have to go into the lab on site at the company. Software programmers can work form home.

The advantages are many in working from home: less road traffic, less air pollution, no travel time, less change of a burglary on your home because it is occupied, more time with the wife and kids, less time having to work physically with people you might not like, more profits for the company. And for many electronics engineers, isolation is nothing new as they lack people skills and have no friends .

So it seems the pros outweigh the cons.

[SilverSolder]

Getting back on track (and off the illegal drugs crap), it is possible working from home will become the norm.

Companies in Australia are now realising it is much cheaper for employees to work from home. The energy bills are all paid for by the employee and over here it is an attractive tax deduction of 80 cents per hour worked from home. Even so, most electronics professionals lack decent test equipment of their own, so they have to go into the lab on site at the company. Software programmers can work form home.

The advantages are many in working from home: less road traffic, less air pollution, no travel time, less change of a burglary on your home because it is occupied, more time with the wife and kids, less time having to work physically with people you might not like, more profits for the company. And for many electronics engineers, isolation is nothing new as they lack people skills and have no friends .

So it seems the pros outweigh the cons.

It would be good to have a mix of office and home working - that sounds like the ideal solution, where you have some of the benefits of both.

[james_s]

It would be good to have a mix of office and home working - that sounds like the ideal solution, where you have some of the benefits of both.

Before the pandemic I was going into the office twice, occasionally three days a week and working from home the other days, that was just about perfect for me. Working from home full time has been nice though, at first the isolation kind of bothered me but now it just feels normal. I've saved a ton of money overall, I haven't been eating out for lunch 2-3 days a week, I haven't been spending $15-$20 a week on bus fare, I haven't put gas in my car since February. Regardless of what the pandemic does I don't plan on going downtown until all the civil unrest has fizzled out, I loathe crowds and angry mobs are absolutely terrifying.

[SilverSolder]

[...]  Working from home full time has been nice though, at first the isolation kind of bothered me but now it just feels normal.  [...]

I miss going to the office, there is a "randomness factor" missing from the genetic algorithm of work and life, as a result!

[Zero999]

Why is that funny, or are you just trolling? I can make alcohol from ingredients I already have in my kitchen cupboard.

And how did you find out how to make alcohol?someone told you,or you read it somewhere, you've researched the theory.You decide to grow weed,you research ,once youve the seeds  it can be as simple as chuck em in the ground and wait,much easier than brewing even the most basic rotgut hooch.

No, I made alcohol accidentally. No books, Internet or research were required. When I was a teenager, I discovered unpasteurised apple juice would turn into cider if left for long enough. I didn't know why at the time, but now I know it's because the natural yeast on the fruit skin caused it to ferment into alcohol.

Alcohol forms naturally on its own in piles of rotting fruit. It's impossible to ban, because unlike other drugs such as cannabis or opium, it doesn't require a specific plant to make. It doesn't require any land or light and can be made in a cupboard, where no one can see. I bet prisoners growing weed is much more rare than making hooch.

[paulca]

Try distilling your own poteen in the UK and see how long it takes for you to find out it's banned.

Anyway, on both cases:
Chucking some apples in a barrel and hoping to get beautiful scumpy jack.
Throwing some seeds in the dirt and waiting.

Will most likely not produce what you wanted.  To get quality worth your effort you need to go quite a bit further.

[Zero999]

Try distilling your own poteen in the UK and see how long it takes for you to find out it's banned.

Anyway, on both cases:
Chucking some apples in a barrel and hoping to get beautiful scumpy jack.
Throwing some seeds in the dirt and waiting.

Will most likely not produce what you wanted.  To get quality worth your effort you need to go quite a bit further.

I agree. The cider I wasn't good, but at least it got me drunk which was the desired result. Alcohol can be made with any food containing carbohydrates, such as bread. The same can't be said for cannabis. You can't ban a substance which is so easy to make and even forms on its own.

[paulca]

You can't ban a substance which is so easy to make and even forms on its own.

But you 'can' ban one that exists naturally in the wild with or without human intervention?

[bd139]

Used to make cider with bread yeast and carton apple juice when I was a kid  . Requires some 2L coke bottles, lots of sugar, some condoms and some tape. Oh and a few hours when the parents are off out. Where there’s a will there’s a way 

You can make vodka with toilet rolls as well.

[paulca]

You can make vodka with toilet rolls as well.

NileRed?

[SilverSolder]

Used to make cider with bread yeast and carton apple juice when I was a kid  . Requires some 2L coke bottles, lots of sugar, some condoms and some tape. Oh and a few hours when the parents are off out. Where there’s a will there’s a way 

You can make vodka with toilet rolls as well.

Yes, but would you WANT to? 

[themadhippy]

No, I made alcohol accidentally. No books, Internet or research were required.

and you  can grow hemp  accidentally without knowledge if your careless with your bird seed or fishing bait
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-29301803

I bet prisoners growing weed is much more rare than making hooch.

simple logistics,its easier to smuggle an 1/8 of weed in than it is a bottle of hooch,to get the same monetary return youd be looking at a minimum of half a bottle of spirts

[bd139]

You can make vodka with toilet rolls as well.

NileRed?

My chemistry teacher beat him by about 25 years but it did jog the memory.

[Zero999]

No, I made alcohol accidentally. No books, Internet or research were required.

and you  can grow hemp  accidentally without knowledge if your careless with your bird seed or fishing bait
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-29301803

I've heard of similar stories before, but you're missing the point. Alcohol is much easier to produce than weed, so it's much harder to ban.

I bet prisoners growing weed is much more rare than making hooch.

simple logistics,its easier to smuggle an 1/8 of weed in than it is a bottle of hooch,to get the same monetary return youd be looking at a minimum of half a bottle of spirts

On the other hand, alcohol can be made from ingredients in the kitchen: no smuggling necessary.

[SilverSolder]

Both/either are probably pretty easy to make/grow for an enterprising person...

[Zero999]

Both/either are probably pretty easy to make/grow for an enterprising person...

If I were to grow an illegal drug, it would be opium. Poppies are less fussy, than cannabis. The seed can be sown in the Autumn and the poppies will flower the following year. After they've flowered, cut grooves in the seed heads, the sap will flow out and dry forming opium.

I don't drink alcohol, nor do drugs, except for coffee and energy drinks nowadays, so there's no point in me doing either and it's not worth the risk doing it to sell.

[DrG]

Regeneron starts Phase 3 trial of Covid antibody drug that might treat and prevent infection, company says

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/health/regeneron-coronavirus-antibody-drug-bn/index.html

Headline is a bit ambitious as they are about to start both Phase 2 and Phase 3. Still, it is very encouraging as they made it past Phase 1 (safety).

Background:
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/06/15/science.abd0827
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/06/15/science.abd0831

[DrG]

It's the staff that quickly spread it around- they work shifts at multiple care facilities.

That's why I said they should have put effort into putting protection systems in place for the vulnerable. Just in Australia this thing was costing us around $4BN a week, that buys you a lot of protection measures.
At the very least I would have liked to have seen a cop stationed at the entry to every retirement village restricting access, but it never happened, at least not here.
One plus side of all of this is that people are more vigilant now, so that should help reduce spread of covid and all the other viruses. I would expect a reduction of flu related deaths this season because of this (we are in flu season here now).

"I would expect a reduction of flu related deaths this season because of this (we are in flu season here now)."

Australia sees huge decrease in flu cases due to coronavirus measures...
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2242113-australia-sees-huge-decrease-in-flu-cases-due-to-coronavirus-measures/

(of course that is a report that is 6 weeks old, but still good news)

[nctnico]

Today some protesters against the lock-down measures in the Netherlands demonstrated how well they are informed. They held a protest in front of a building of a newspaper. Only problem for them was: the newspaper moved 8 years ago 

[nctnico]

It's the staff that quickly spread it around- they work shifts at multiple care facilities.

That's why I said they should have put effort into putting protection systems in place for the vulnerable. Just in Australia this thing was costing us around $4BN a week, that buys you a lot of protection measures.
At the very least I would have liked to have seen a cop stationed at the entry to every retirement village restricting access, but it never happened, at least not here.
One plus side of all of this is that people are more vigilant now, so that should help reduce spread of covid and all the other viruses. I would expect a reduction of flu related deaths this season because of this (we are in flu season here now).

"I would expect a reduction of flu related deaths this season because of this (we are in flu season here now)."

Australia sees huge decrease in flu cases due to coronavirus measures...
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2242113-australia-sees-huge-decrease-in-flu-cases-due-to-coronavirus-measures/

(of course that is a report that is 6 weeks old, but still good news)

I doubt that. It is like unplugging the internet cable from your computer. Look, no more malware. But the anti-malware updates also stop. As I wrote before: resistance against mild flu virusses wears off over time so the longer you are getting no updates in the form of mild flu the harder you'll be hit.

[Zero999]

It's the staff that quickly spread it around- they work shifts at multiple care facilities.

That's why I said they should have put effort into putting protection systems in place for the vulnerable. Just in Australia this thing was costing us around $4BN a week, that buys you a lot of protection measures.
At the very least I would have liked to have seen a cop stationed at the entry to every retirement village restricting access, but it never happened, at least not here.
One plus side of all of this is that people are more vigilant now, so that should help reduce spread of covid and all the other viruses. I would expect a reduction of flu related deaths this season because of this (we are in flu season here now).

"I would expect a reduction of flu related deaths this season because of this (we are in flu season here now)."

Australia sees huge decrease in flu cases due to coronavirus measures...
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2242113-australia-sees-huge-decrease-in-flu-cases-due-to-coronavirus-measures/

(of course that is a report that is 6 weeks old, but still good news)

Well it's good news that less people are dying from flu.

I doubt that. It is like unplugging the internet cable from your computer. Look, no more malware. But the anti-malware updates also stop. As I wrote before: resistance against mild flu virusses wears off over time so the longer you are getting no updates in the form of mild flu the harder you'll be hit.

I doubt immunity wears off that quickly. I believe it lasts for a couple of years after exposure. It will be interesting to see what happens next flu season.

Another factor might be vaccination. Are more people getting the flu jab, than normal? In the UK, the government are going to be investing extra in flu vaccinations because they don't want people becoming infected with both flu and COVID-19, which will result in a much higher mortality rate.

My employer offers all workers the flu vaccine for free. I normally don't bother, since I consider myself to be low risk and would rather those who need it more get it, but this year I might even pay for a vaccination, as I don't want both. Another thing is, I don't want to spread either virus. This pandemic has changed my attitude to illnes. In the past I've gone out when ill and spread it to more vulnerable people. A couple of years ago I went swimming with my nephews, sister and brother in law, when I felt a bit ill. I remember shivering in the pool and felt terrible afterwards. I probably had one day off work, at most, before I was well enough to return, but my brother in law soon fell ill and had to go to hospital. My sister blamed me for giving it to him, but I doubted it at the time. Now I think it's likely I had flu, but because I'm fit and healthy and he's obese, I had a much milder illness than him. I'll still be more careful, even when this COVID-19 pandemic is over.

[DrG]

I was simply commenting that what Dave speculated might happen, may, in fact, be happening - based on that one news report and accompanying graph.

I was not thinking about immunity issues at all but rather that it is due to an increased awareness of better sanitary habits - being careful not to spread your germs - a vigilance.

Immunity from flu shots seems to be reported at about 6 months (https://www.immunize.org/askexperts/experts_inf.asp).

Immunity from actually having the flu is less well known, but is much more likely to be much longer (https://www.nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs/first-time-flu-infection-may-affect-lifetime-immunity/).

Of course, all that immunity needs to be qualified as to whether immunity from one type generalizes to another variety.